


fix the mess you made

by afterism



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Easter, Easter Egg Hunt, Fix-It, Gen, Possibly Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-06 21:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterism/pseuds/afterism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Easter is new beginnings... new life. Easter's about <i>hope</i>, and now it's gone," Bunnymund sighs, and Jack stares at the wooden carving in his hand, and thinks, <i>I can fix this</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fix the mess you made

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this as part of an end-of-year, deanoning-my-anon-fic drive! Written for [this prompt](http://rotg-kink.dreamwidth.org/2200.html?thread=2629528#cmt2629528) on the kink meme, asking for Jack making ice sculptures and helping fix the egg hunt. It is shameless fluff \o/

"Easter is new beginnings... new life. Easter's about _hope_ , and now it's gone," Bunnymund sighs, ears back and shoulders drooping, and turns away from Jack with slow, dragging strides. Tooth stares at the ground as North turns away completely, unable to meet his eye, and Jack - Jack stares at the wooden carving in his hand, and thinks, _I can fix this_.

"Wait!" he calls, spinning on the spot and starts chasing across the grass. Bunnymund freezes, paws tightening, but by the time he glances over his shoulder Jack is already racing past, heading towards the children who are trudging back to the car park. "Hold up!" Jack shouts, and tucks his staff under his arm as he runs, sliding his hands over each other like he's rolling a snowball, quick and deliberate and Bunnymund can't stop himself from staring, watching with narrowed eyes until Jack draws his left hand up and there's something sitting in the palm of his right hand, something larger than a snowball and pure white - that Jack suddenly pulls back and bowls towards the children.

It rolls quicker than should be possible on the uphill slope, and then Bunnymund realises it has legs and it's _running_ , fast strides that quickly catch up with the children and it darts between them before disappearing into a bush.

"Whoa!" the girl gasps, grabbing onto her brother's shoulder and pulling them both to a stop. "What on earth was that?"

Jack flies ahead, rustling the bush again as he lands behind it. The girl inhales sharply and her brother grabs for her hand. "Snow bunny?" he says, stepping closer to her.

"We're in _Surrey_ ," she sighs, rolling her eyes, and with a small nod to herself she walks tentatively towards it, pulling her brother along with her. Bunnymund creeps silently closer, eyes flicking between the children and where he can just see the top of Jack's head on the other side of the leaves.

The bush rustles again, but she narrows her eyes and lets go of her brother's hand to part the leaves and - "Oh!" she gasps.

"Take her, she's bigger!" her brother cries, and skips a couple of feet away.

"No, no, look!" she says, reaching in for a moment before coming out with a handful of carved ice eggs. "Oh, they're beautiful," she breathes, and Bunnymund's mouth falls open as she cups them carefully in one hand so she can run a fingertip over the delicate leaf patterns sprinkled across the clear ice.

The snow rabbit darts out of the bush and across the path, and Jack jumps after it. "Can I-?" he says, grabbing a couple of eggs out of Bunnymund's basket while Bunnymund just stares at him, speechless, and he flies after the snow rabbit to plant eggs in the shrub it runs under, just before the boy peers in to look. 

"I found more!" he calls to his sister, and that gets the attention of the last of the stragglers who were the most reluctant to give up. 

"They found some eggs!" someone shouts, and Jack laughs as he jumps from bush to tree and starts rolling the little Easter eggs in a matter of seconds, as clear and intricate as cut glass, and leaves them in small piles for the returning children to find. 

"Mum, look!" the girl says, holding up her prizes as her parents wander back to find out what all the shouting is about. "I found some!"

"Oh," her mother says, staring at them. "Well, um, put them in your basket before they melt," she says, and then blinks as a snowflake lands on her nose. 

"Maybe Jack Frost is helping out this year," her dad says, and Jack nearly falls out of his tree. Tooth, holding onto North as they slowly walk into the rush of activity, stifles a giggle behind her hand. 

Snow starts to fall in soft, light flakes, but that doesn't deter the handful of kids who run backwards and forwards across the park and jump up cheering whenever they find another clutch of eggs, occasionally exclaiming how sure they were that they'd looked here already. After a long, silent moment of just watching all the children, Bunnymund starts to hide the few eggs he has in his basket and the children shriek even louder as they find them, because _this_ is what they expected, and while he's putting his last egg under a bush near the centre of the park one small girl looks up, and gasps.

"Bunny," she says, hushed and awed and wide-eyed, and for an instant Bunnymund's instincts kick in and he freezes, his egg halfway to the ground. Jack coughs.

Bunnymund glances up, and catches Jack's eye. "Here ya go, ya little blighter," Bunnymund says softly, handing the girl the last egg, and she giggles with delight as she clutches it to her chest and skips off back to her dad.

"Jack, this is... amazing," Tooth says, fluttering close to lay a hand on his shoulder as the Guardians gather in the middle of the clearing, and Jack shrugs it off. 

"It's nothing," he says, and cuts her off when Tooth tries to protest. "I'm just good at the wintery stuff."

"No, Jack, truly - you did good job," North insists, and Jack looks ready to leap up into the North Wind and fly away before Bunnymund steps close and makes an abortive move to touch his arm, and they both stall instead, standing still and awkward and silent.

"Mate," Bunnymund starts, and Jack adjusts his grip on his staff. "This was, I mean..."

"Yeah," Jack says, and Bunnymund pats his shoulder rapidly and withdraws his paw like he's got frostbite.

"Still think Easter is cancelled?" North says, glancing between them. "We have several continents of egg hunts missing eggs, but - we also have Jack," he says, beaming down at him, and Jack ducks his head.

Bunnymund stares at the grass, eyes darting like he's calculating something, and then, "It would be a little unconventional, but, yeah, I think we can do it!" he says, rising up to his full height and flashing his teeth in a wide grin. 

"Easter could definitely use a bit more unconventional. All that tie-dye? Eurgh," Jack says, and smirks when Bunnymund spins sharply to glare at him, ears up.

"I'll show you unconventional, mate," Bunnymund says, and with a sharp tap of his foot sends Jack tumbling down a tunnel to one of the largest Easter Egg Hunts in Colorado that's currently missing the main attraction.

"See ya on the other side!" he calls to the others, before bounding after him, easily following the patterns of frost that bloom across the walls.

"I have good feeling about this," North proclaims, watching the last few children totter out of the park with baskets full of chocolate and ice eggs. Tooth hides a smile behind her hand, her wings fluttering buoyantly, and North glances up at her in bemusement before shrugging, and steps forward like he's about to follow them down the tunnel.

"Wait!" Tooth says, grabbing his arm, and North spins around, head turning sharply as he looks for danger. "No, it's just - I think we should give them a minute," she says, shrugging lightly as she rubs her arm. North stares at her. "Besides - we still have to find Pitch. He's still got my fairies, and I think he did something to Jack."

 

Down in the tunnels, Jack hits the ground running as the tunnel suddenly opens out into the grand cavern of the Warren and he's halfway across the grass when he finally manages to stop, hopping a few steps before he can dig his toes into the ground. The golems have started to pick themselves up but the crushed eggs still litter the floor, and for a second Jack can't move.

"Quit lollygagging," Bunnymund says, grabbing Jack by the scruff of his hoodie as he bounds past and pulls him further into the warren. "We need ta' pick up a few things."

"Are there-" Jack starts, stops, clears his throat. "Are there any eggs left?"

"'Course there are. There's always hope," Bunnymund says, glancing back at him, before hopping over and shoving him forward with a paw on his back. "Come _on_ , are ya here to help or not?"

"Yeah," Jack says, softly, nudging a cracked shell with his toe. And then, "I'm _sorry_ ," he says, all rushed and breathless, hurried before Bunnymund can cut him off - but there's just silence, and Bunnymund's just watching him with a crooked eyebrow when Jack finally glances over.

"I'm listenin'," he drawls.

"This wasn't - I didn't - I mean, there's so much I don't _know_ ," Jack says, and clutches at his staff with both hands. "How am I supposed to help when I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"Easy," Bunnymund says, and Jack whips his head up in surprise. "You listen to your friends."

Jack stares at him, mouth half-open as his eyes flick between Bunnymund's, like he's desperately trying to see something that might not be there, and then he sighs with his whole body, clinging onto his staff as he slumps forward and stares at the ground. "Right," he says. "Sorry."

Bunnymund sighs loudly. "Meaning me, ya galah," he says, and nudges Jack's shoulder with a closed paw. "And th' others, obviously. It's what we do, when we need it. Now, let's try this again - are ya here to help, or not?"

Jack looks up at him, and then, slowly, like the sun creeping up in a winter dawn, Jack bursts into a grin. "Yeah!" he says, and shoots a few paces off across the grass again before skipping to a stop. 

"Wait, where are we going?"


End file.
